A self-report measure of community violence exposure for children aged 4-10 that includes drawings to accompany questions and thermometer-type rating scale. The measure includes questions about minor and severe violence victimization and witnessing violence in the home, school, and neighborhood.

Domain(s) Assessed :

Trauma Exposure/Reminders

Language(s) :

English

Hebrew

Spanish

Age Range:

4-10

Measure Type:

Screening

# of Items:

25

Measure Format:

Structured Interview

Average Time to Complete (min):

20

Reporter Type:

Self

Average Time to Score (min):

5

Periodicity:

Unknown

Response Format:

Over the course of a lifetime: (0=never, 1=one time, 2=a few times, 3=lots of times)

Materials Needed:

Paper/Pencil

Sample Item(s):

Domains

Scale

Sample Items

Trauma: Community Violence exposure

Violence Victimization

A person pushes or shoves Chris really hard. How many times has a person pushed or shoved you reallyhard?

Violence Witness

Chris sees a person beat up another person. How many times have you seen a person beat up anotherperson?

Information Provided:

Areas of Concern/Risks

Continuous Assessment

Raw Scores

Training

Administration Training:

< 4 Hours Training by Experienced Clinician

Parallel/Alternate Forms

Parallel Form:

No

Alternate Form:

Yes

Different Age Forms:

Yes

Altered Version Forms:

Yes

Describe Alternative Forms:

1. One version for girls and one for boys. They differ in that the cartoon characters depicted are either male or female.

2. VEX-Preschool Version, used by Shahinfar, Fox, & Leavitt (2000), has fewer items and is for younger children.

3. VEX-R Parent Report: briefly described in Shahinfar et al. (2000).

The VEX-R was modified for use with an Israeli population of children. The name of the cartoon character was changed and several of the items were altered. See Raviv, Raviv, Shimoni, Fox, & Leavitt (1999); Raviv, Erel, Fox, Leavitt, Raviv, Dar, et al. (2001).

Psychometrics

Reliability:

Type:

Rating

StatistCronbach's alphaics

Min

Max

Avg

Internal Consistency

Cronbach's alpha

0.72

0.86

References for Reliability:

There are no interrater statistics in terms of interviewers. The Shahinfar et al. (2000) study compares parents' and children's reports of their children's exposure to violence.

So it is comparing the VEX-R with the VEX-R Parent Report and found no significant relationship between Parent and Child reports of exposure to violence.

Content Validity Evaluated:

Yes

References for Content Validity:

The measure is face valid and asks about similar areas of community violence exposure as other measures of this sort. It was developed based on the Richters & Martinez (1990) measure: "Things I Have Seen and Heard: An Interview for Young Children About Exposure to Violence."

Construct Validity Evaluated:

Yes

Construct Validity:

Validity Type

Not known

Not found

Nonclincal Samples

Clinical Samples

Diverse Samples

Convergent/Concurrent

Yes

Yes

Discriminant

Yes

Sensitive to Change

Yes

Intervention Effects

Yes

Longitudinal/Maturation Effects

Yes

Sensitive to Theoretically Distinct Groups

Yes

Factorial Validity

Yes

References for Construct Validity:

Children who were found to have experienced exposure to violence on the VEXR were found to have higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms on the CBCL and higher child-reported distress symptoms (Shahinfar et al., 2000). Stein, Zima, Elliott, Burnam, Shahinfar, Fox, & Leavitt (2001) also reported, in their diverse sample of 2,103 foster care children, that being a witness to violence based on the VEX-R did not vary by age, gender, or ethnicity. Violence victimization was associated with higher trauma and depression symptoms with children who witnessed more severe violence (e.g., weapon- or assault-based violence), reporting more PTSD and depression symptoms (assessed by the Children’s Depression Inventory and Levonn: A Cartoon-Based Interview for Assessing Children's Distress Symptoms).

Criterion Validity:

Not Known

Not Found

Nonclinical Samples

Clinical Samples

Diverse Samples

Predictive Validity:

Yes

Postdictive Validity:

Yes

Overall Psychometric Limitations:

1. Limited psychometric data available.2. Shahinfar et al. (2000) found poor concordance between VEX-R Parent and Child reports. However, this may be due to differences in parents’ and children's understanding of the items or parents' knowledge of their children's exposure.

Translation Quality

Language(s) Other Than English:

Language:

Translated

Back Translated

Reliable

Good Psychometrics

Similar Factor Structure

Norms Available

Measure Developed for this Group

1. Hebrew

Yes

Yes

2.Spanish

Yes

Yes

Population Information

Population Used For Measure Development:

Sample: 40 Caucasian primarily suburban preschool aged children.

Measure was then used in a study by Shahinfar et al. (2000) with 155 African American children: 79 boys and 76 girls, aged 3½-5 from low SES families living in a community just outside Washington DC.

The average family income was less than $7,200, and almost 50% of the sample was entirely supported by public assistance.

Measure has demonstrated evidence of reliability and validity in which populations?:

Community Violence

Use with Diverse Populations:

Population Type:

Measure Used with Members of this Group

Members of this Group Studied in Peer-Reviewed Journals

Reliable

Good Psychometrics

Norms Available

Measure Developed for this Group

Lower-socioeconomic status

Yes

Israeli children

Yes

Pros & Cons/References

Pros:

1. This is the only self-report measure of trauma exposure for young children with a parallel Parent Report form.

Cons:

1. Caution should be used when administering the measure to preschool-aged children because some young children may not have the cognitive maturity to truly understand the items. The authors recommend using probe questions, in addition to the measure, to ensure that children understand that they are being asked about “true life events” rather than violence witnessed on television or in the movies.2. Very limited psychometric data.

Author Comments :

The authors reviewed this review and provided feedback, which was incorporated. They indicated that the Spanish version is available from the authors, and the VEX-R has been used with both group and individual administration. The authors also commented that clinicians have used the instrument to foster discussion with young children about events that they have experienced.

References:

A PsychInfo search (6/05) for “Violence Exposure Scale” or “VEX-R” anywhere revealedthat the measure has been referenced in 5 peer-reviewed journal articles.

1. Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R., Turner, H., & Hamby, S. (2005). The victimization of children and youth: A comprehensive, national survey. Child Maltreatment: Journal of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, 10 (1), 5-25.